Resurrection Sunday

Christ is risen! He is risen indeed!
Victorious over death, sin and Satan, our Savior rose from the dead. There is hope in His resurrection because what is His has become ours and so we share in His glory and victory. Praise Him, the One Who died and rose again!

Holy Saturday

Holy Saturday is the day when Christians focus on the absence of Jesus. He was laid in the tomb and that act seemed to have put an end to the whole story of His life and ministry. It brought a certain closure to His disciples. I wonder what they were thinking about on Saturday. They had enough time to deal with the shock of their teacher's arrest, trial and execution, but they still could not figure out why all that had to happen to Him.
Existentially, I can relate to Holy Saturday. I feel like my life now is stuck right in it. A year ago my third daughter was born and quickly diagnosed with Down syndrome. When she was 6 weeks old, we left our home in Kiev and moved to Michigan to care for her and figure out what God had for us next. We also left a new church we had planted and pastored in Kiev. That was my Good Friday. Now, the shock of Polly's birth has gone, we have dealt with our grief for the child we had expected and the ministry we loved and lost. We have gotten healthier and accepted Polly's diagnosis and changes it has brought. We have complained to God and cried. It is my Holy Saturday. I know there will be a Sunday morning. I know there will be a resurrection. But it is still Saturday here. God has not shown to us where He wants us to be and what He wants us to do yet. We are still waiting for Him to bring us back to life.

Good Friday

He wasn't some handsome king. Nothing about the way he looked made him attractive to us.
He was hated and rejected; his life was filled with sorrow and terrible suffering. No one wanted to look at him. We despised him and said, "He is a nobody!" He suffered and endured great pain for us, but we thought his suffering was punishment from God. He was wounded and crushed because of our sins; by taking our punishment, he made us completely well. (Isa 53:2-5, CEV)

Maundy Thursday

When I took communion on Maundy Thursday, holding the bread and the cup in my hands, I thought, "Jesus really loves me." He values me more than His own life. He wants to be with me more than He wants to stay alive. No matter how many times I am rejected by others, how many people choose to pursue their own needs instead of helping me with mine and how many of them decide that I am not worth their time, Jesus still loves me.

Wednesday in Holy Week

For consider Him who has endured such hostility by sinners against Himself, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart. (Heb. 12:3)

Father,

Do not let me grow weary and lose heart
When I see opposition to what I perceive to be Your will.
Remind me to compare those opposing me to those who out of envy and hatred killed Your Son.
Bring to my mind Jesus' endurance, patience, obedience and trust in Your will.

Amen

Tuesday in Holy Week

What happened? At some point, we started liking big churches with multiple staff and multi-million dollar budgets. Then we called those churches successful and started cloning them. We began looking for accomplished, well-educated, high-powered and attractive people to be our pastors. We started wanting to look good and successful, so we targeted the middle class. But, what about suffering servants? How about the church being a refuge for the poor and the oppressed? What about diversity, art and creativity? And what about humility?

Monday in Holy Week

I am the LORD, I have called You in righteousness,
I will also hold You by the hand and watch over You,
And I will appoint You as a covenant to the people,
As a light to the nations,
To open blind eyes,
To bring out prisoners from the dungeon
And those who dwell in darkness from the prison. (Isa.42:6,7)

I am becoming more and more convinced that there is a profound connection between our identification with Christ and our identification with the poor, the marginalized and the forgotten. Perhaps, our life and ministry need to be defined in terms of our passion for those in need of our compassion, and not as much in terms of our passion for quiet times, Scripture reading and the like. Action is sacramental and is not to be seen as inferior to the obviously spiritual activities. Nouwen writes the following on the subject of prayer and action:

"Action with and for those who suffer is the concrete expression of the compassionate life and the final criterion of being a Christian. Such acts do not stand beside the moments of prayer and worship but are themselves such moments. Jesus Christ, who did not cling to his divinity, but became as we are, can be found where there are hungry, thirsty, alienated, naked, sick, and imprisoned people. Precisely when we live in an ongoing conversation with Christ and allow his Spirit to guide our lives, we will recognize him in the poor, the oppressed, and the downtrodden, and will hear his cry and respond to it wherever he reveals himself."

Palm Sunday

I wonder why in some Evangelical churches kids get to have palm branches in Sunday School while adults don't? Do we assume that our children need object lessons and something tangible to understand a spiritual truth while we as mature adults can focus on the spiritual without any help? We might be giving ourselves too much credit. Or, maybe, we think adults will be distracted by something as green as a palm branch? I dream of a day when I can be in a crowd of people walking to church all carrying palm branches. I think it will be very cool.